List or checkout recently used branches in git

git-recent-branches

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
List the most recent branches you have been working on, and switch any of them.

# Install

Put this file somewhere in your PATH, and set execution permissions.
Git will recognize it as the "recent-branches" subcommand.

# Usage

Without positional argument, it shows the 10 most recently used branches.
You can pass -n <number> to see more.

$ git recent-branches
1 - feature/EN-634
2 - feature/en-583_3
3 * master
4 - HOTFIX/spotify
5 - tests_factories
6 - feature/en-583_2
7 - _prod/workers/orders_py3
8 - prueba
9 - _prod/workers/products_py3
10 - staging

Passing a number will checkout the branch listed in that position.

$ git recent-branches 5
Switched to branch 'tests_factories'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/tests_factories'.

If `git sw` ("smart switch" command) is available, it will be used. Otherwise, standard `git switch` will be tried. 
See also https://gist.github.com/mgaitan/d9a3523d79cd5f9fbfd626f646f0560b

Note: In the list, the row with "*" (instead "-") is the current branch.
"""


import argparse
import re
import subprocess
from collections import OrderedDict

pattern = re.compile(r"checkout: moving from ([A-Za-z0-9_\/\-\.]+) to")

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="git recent-branches", description=__doc__.split("\n")[1])
parser.add_argument("index", type=int, nargs="?", help="Move to the i-th branch in the list")
parser.add_argument("command", nargs="*", help="If given, run commands after switching and return to the current branch")
parser.add_argument("--limit", "-n", type=int, default=10, help="Show until the n-th branch")
parser.add_argument("--force", "-f", action="store_true", help="Force checkout")

args = parser.parse_args()

output = subprocess.check_output(["git", "reflog"], text=True)
branches = list(OrderedDict.fromkeys(re.findall(pattern, output)).keys())


def switch_branch(branch_name, force=False):
    use_sw = subprocess.call(["git", "sw"], stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL) == 2 and not force
    cmd = ["git", "sw" if use_sw else "switch"]
    if force:
        cmd.append("-f")
    cmd.append(branch_name)
    subprocess.call(cmd)

current_branch = subprocess.check_output(["git", "branch", "--show-current"], text=True).strip()

if args.index:
    target_branch = branches[args.index - 1]

    # Switch to the target branch
    switch_branch(target_branch, args.force)

    # Execute the extra command if provided
    if args.command:
        subprocess.call(" ".join(args.command), shell=True)
        # Switch back to the original branch
        switch_branch(current_branch, args.force)
else:
    for i, branch in enumerate(branches[: args.limit], 1):
        print(f"{i} {'*' if current_branch == branch else '-'} {branch}")

Love this idea, would be nice to have a way to say only show the top n branches. Ie something like:

git-recent-branches -n 5

to show the 5 most recent, rather than always show all. I have a few repos I interact with where there's a large number of branches, but only interact with a small handful.

@pzelnip, thanks for the idea. I've just implemented it, with a default to top 10 most recently used branches

Nice!

See also https://gist.github.com/mgaitan/d9a3523d79cd5f9fbfd626f646f0560b

I forked and added it to ask to switch branch
https://gist.github.com/alvarmaciel/884660733fdb7c6ad9603ceb23d239ca

why not simply use fzf

git switch `git branch | fzf| tr -d '[:space:]'`